Effects of Interpersonal Sensorimotor Synchronization on Dyadic Creativity: Gender Matters

Abstract

Although it is noted that interpersonal sensorimotor coordination can influence several high-level socio-cognitive processes, its impact on creative collaboration is nearly unexplored. Here, we investigated the effects of a form of sensorimotor coordination, that is, sensorimotor synchronization, on a subsequent creative collaboration task. 60 pairs (n total = 120 participants) formed by previously unacquainted individuals performed a tower-building task either jointly or alone, followed by a dyadic creativity task. Tower building time in the joint condition was recorded through a sensorized platform and creativity performance was evaluated by two independent raters based on the quantity and quality of generated ideas. We controlled for gender composition and for the disposition to cooperate and to adopt a creative, analytical style. Results showed that male-male couples were more creative after the joint-action condition, whereas female-female and mixed-gender couples were more creative after the solo condition. Regression analyses of tower building time on creativity performance revealed that building time was a significant predictor of creativity dimensions in male-male and in mixed-gender couples but did not predict creative performance in female-female couples. Overall, these findings suggest that the manipulation of sensorimotor coordination can influence performance in a subsequent creative collaboration task, with the nature, and magnitude of this effect depending on the gender composition of the dyads. These results have potential implications for the design of sensorimotor-based strategies to enhance dyadic creative performance in several contexts, especially for the organizational settings.

Empathic perspective taking promotes interpersonal coordination through music

“…Yet, we acknowledge that, despite sex being similarly distributed across EPT groups, the sample included more females than males. It would be useful to control this more strictly in future investigations, given that sex and gender can affect both empathy and interpersonal coordination 66,67 .…”

Exploring Dimensional Structure of Intimate Co-creation: An Exploratory Factor Analysis

“…Such tacit knowledge sharing helps in strong bonding, better workplace performance and employee satisfaction (Ahn & Hong, 2019;Hill et al, 2014). The role of gender is also crucial in determining the success ratio of a relationship based on dyadic level co-creation (Gaggioli et al, 2019). Hence, a gap in the literature exists that requires further exploration of the dynamics such as the role of male-female, male-male and femalefemale types of dyads and their impact on the performance at the workplace in a relationship based on intimate co-creation.…”

Movement Synchrony in the Mirror Game

“…Participants played the MG with a gender-matched expert player. There were two experimenters, one male and one female (aiming to control for gender differences in movement; Bente et al 1998;Gaggioli et al 2019), both in their early thirties, with extensive experience in the MG. The experimenters were blind to all study hypotheses.…”